Trussed pallet



June 19, 1962 E. B. BUSTER 3,039,640

TRUSSED PALLET Filed March 17, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. 6 5 5 6 fpn m 5. 5w 9 BY/ZZ/ June 19, 1962 BUSTER 3,039,640

TRUSSED PALLET Filed March 17, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 2/ /5 INVENTOR.

0W/A 5. U 71 BY I United States Patent 3,039,640 TRUSSED PALLET Edwin B. Buster, P.0. Box 585, Nederland, Tex. Filed Mar. 17, 1960, Ser. No. 15,685 2 Claims. (Cl. 21743) This invention relates to new and useful improvements in a trussed pallet used for loading materials thereon to facilitate the handling and storing said materials.

An object of the invention is to provide a pallet having an upper deck and a lower deck with spaced I-beam trusses formed crosswise of the decking members of said upper and lower decks to prevent vertical crushing and to offset damaging lateral stresses of said pallet although permitting fabrication with extremely lightweight materials with open spaces between said trusses to accommodate fork lift members.

Another object of the invention is to provide a pallet of the character described having a retaining wall formed around the top perimeter of the upper deck for holding a detachable crib in place containing materials bearing directly upon the upper deck and whose weight is supported by the trussed pallet.

A further object of the invention is to provide a pallet of the character described having a detachable collapsible crib mounted on the upper deck of the pallet.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a pallet of the character described Whose collapsible crib sections form a rectangle with the side sections having its outer vertical piers provided with a plurality of locking notches therein and the end sections having cross ribbands which slide into position in said notches to secure the end sections to the side sections to form the collapsible crib.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a pallet of the character described Whose collapsible crib sections form a rectangle with vertical ledgers formed on the crib section ends which extend outwardly and are spaced apart from the outer vertical piers thereof and the horizontal ribbands attached crosswise of said vertical piers whereby the space between the vertical ledgers and the outer vertical piers of the end sections accommodate the outer edges of the outer vertical piers of the side sections of the crib with the outer edges of the side sections of the crib bearing against the horizontal ribbands to prevent the side sections from moving outwardly under pressure of the load exerted from within the crib.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a pallet of the character described whose collapsible crib has notches in the outer edges of the outer vertical piers of the side sections for keeping the horizontal ribbands of the end sections within said notches to prevent the end sections from moving outwardly under pressure of the load exerted from within the crib.

These and other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part be more fully disclosed in the specifications, the drawings of which show by way of illustration two embodiments of the invention, in which:

FIG. 1 is a vertical side view in elevation of a side section of the collapsible crib of the pallet with the vertical outer piers thereof having a plurality of notches in the outer edges thereof for receiving the horizontal ribbands of the end sections of the collapsible crib;

FIG. 2 is a vertical side view in elevation of the collapsible crib mounted on the trussed pallet showing the lower ends of the vertical piers of the crib within the retaining Wall formed around the perimeter of the top of the upper deck of the pallet;

FIG. 3 is a vertical side view in elevation of an end section of the collapsible crib of the trussed pallet showing the vertical ledgers parallel andspaced outwardly from the outer vertical piers and attached to the hori- Tee zontal ribbands attached to and extending crosswise of said vertical piers; p

FIG. 4 is a vertical end view in elevation of the collapsible crib mounted on the trussed pallet showing the outer edges of the outer vertical piers of the side sections fitting in the space between the vertical ledgers and the outer vertical piers of the side sections of the crib with the horizontal ribbands of the end section of the crib in the notches in the outer edges of the outer vertical piers of the side sections;

FIG. 5 is a vertical end view in elevation of the trussed pallet showing the retaining wall bordering the outer perimeter on the top of the upper deck of the pallet;

FIG. 6 is atop plan view of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is another embodiment of the invention and is a vertical side view in elevation of a side section of the collapsible crib of the pallet with the vertical outer piers thereof with straight outer edges and without notches in the outer edges thereof shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is another embodiment of the invention and is a vertical side view in elevation of the collapsible crib mounted on the trussed pallet with the vertical outer piers of the side sections with straight outer edges being the same as the embodiment as in FIG. 7 and showing the lower ends of the vertical piers within the retaining wall formed about the perimeter of the top of the upper deck of the pallet.

Referring to the accompanying drawings in which like numeraled parts herein denote like numeraled parts therein in the various views, numeral 1 represents the decking members forming the lower deck of the pallet which is comprised of parallel lengthwise decking members to which crosswise footing strips 2 are attached which forms the base of the I-beam shaped trusses. The lower deck is adapted to fit on top of another pallet so that successive pallets may be stacked on each other on the floor A of a warehouse or place of storage. The I-beam truss is formed with similar crosswise strips 3 to that of footing strips 2 which have intermediate edgewise spacing blocks 4 which form the vertical ribs of the I-beam shaped truss with spaces 5 between the spacing blocks 4 of each I-beam shaped truss through which the pair of forks 6 of a fork lift may be inserted for lifting the pallet and its load for moving and storing it with its contents. Should it be more convenient the pallet may be lifted from the ends rather than from the side as the pallet may be lifted by means of a pair of forks 7 which are inserted through spaces 8 between the spaced I-beam trusses which spaces 8 run lengthwise with the I-beam shaped trusses such as shown in FIG. 2 0f the drawings. The I-beam shaped trusses are capped by crosswise decking members 9 to form the upper deck of the trussed pallet which are nailed to the cross strips 3 of the I-beam shaped trusses. A retaining wall comprised of four retainer members 10 which form ring attached to the top side of the upper deck which members 10 extend around the perimeter of the top of the upper deck of the pallet and is provided for retaining the collapsible crib structure on the pallet so that the load of the contents within the crib may be borne by the pallet which is trussed to support the load.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2 of the drawing the outer sides of the two outer end I-beam trusses are open so that cables of a bridle or the depending lifting members of a straddle lift truck may be employed to lift the pallet. by engaging under the shoulders formed beneath the crosswise strips 3 of the respective outer end I-beams at the respective ends of the pallet. The cables of a bridle or lifting members of a straddle lift will engage beneathsaid shoulders of said crosswise strips 3 of the outer end I- beam trusses and bear against the exterior surfaces of the edgewise spacing blocks 4 of said outer end I-bearn trusses at the upper jointure with strips 3 at the respective open ends of said pallet when it is desirable that said pallet be lifted by cables of a bridle such as in loading or unloading ships, or, when it is desirable to handle materials by use of a straddle lift truck. The cables of a bridle when looped lengthwise beneath the underside of the outer end crosswise strips 3 of the pallet the upper decking members on which the load of material is situated is greatly supported and as thus constnicted and arranged the pallet may be lifted without buckling, crushing, or being damaged as is the case with all other known type pallets, particularly, since in other pallets a looped cable crosswise under the ends of the decking boards only will pinch and pry off the outer end boards of the upper decking. A strain on the cable from above where it is tied into the lifting cable from a boom to form bridle by which the pallet is lifted will put the whole strain of the load on the outer boards of the upper decking boards and pry and pinch said outer boards inwardly to buckle and crush inwardly first the outer boards and then others of the upper decking to damage and render the pallet useless for supporting and moving loads of material thereon. Whereas, the crosswise strips 3 forming the tops of the I-beam trusses which are crosswise of the upper decking boards is an arrangement in a combination to provide shoulders under the outer open ends of the pallet on the under sides of strips 3 and run lengthwise of the strips 3 which prevents the cables of the lifting bridle or lifting members of a straddle lift truck from prying, and pinching, the outer upper decking boards of the pallet inwardly thereby buckling or crushing the pallet inwardly to destroy the pallet.

The collapsible crib is preferably comprised of two side sections 11-11 such as shown in FIG. 1 and two narrower end sections 1212 such as shown in FIG. 3. The side sections 11-11 are preferably comprised of four vertical piers 13 spaced apart and attached with nails 14 or the like with two crosswise ribbands 15. The outer vertical piers 13 have a pair of V-shaped locking notches 16 formed in the outer edges 17 of said outer vertical piers 13 which locking notches 16 are adapted to receive the V- shaped bottom edges 18 of registering horizontal ribbands 19 of the end sections 1212. The end sections 12-12 of the collapsible crib is preferably comprised of three vertical piers 20 attached by nails 24 by two crosswise horizontal ribbands 19 which extend outwardly beyond the two outer vertical piers 20 to which are attached a vertical ledger 21 on each end of said horizontal ribbands 19 and spaced outwardly from each respective outer vertical pier 20 to provide a space 22 therebetween of suficient width to receive and accommodate the notched edges of the outer vertical piers 13 of the side sections 1111 of the collapsible crib. The notched edges of the outer vertical piers 13 are provided with V-shaped notches 1d having inclined faces 23 which receive and accommodate the V shaped bottom edges 18 of the horizontal ribbands 19 of the end sections 12--12 which ribbands 19 may be further secured to the outer vertical piers 13 of side sections 11-11 by nails 25 or the like.

Another embodiment of the invention is shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 of the drawings which is generic to that shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 of the drawings and where permissible the parts thereof will be described with the same numbers to the same parts in all of the drawings. The principal difference in the embodiment of the invention in FIGS. 7 and 8 to the preferred embodiment in FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 and 6 is that FIGS. 7 and 8 show the outer edges 26 of the outer vertical piers 27 of the side sections 11-11 to have edges 26 to be straight instead of having notches 16 as in the outer vertical piers 1 3 and the horizontal ribbands 32 are attached by nails 28 to vertical piers 27 of the side sections 11-11. The horizontal ribbands 29 being rectangular in cross-section instead of having V-shaped bottom edges 18 such as horizontal ribbands 19 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. Also to hold the end sections 12- 12 in place as shown in FIG.

8 threaded bolts 30 extend through ribbands 29, ledgers 21 and threaded into ribbands 32 which are attached cross wise to the outer vertical piers 27 of side sections 11-11 and which are secured by nuts 31 threaded on said bolts 30 to withstand outward thrust of load within the crib bearing against the end sections 1212 and to secure the end sections 12-42 to the side sections 11-11 with the aid of the ledgers 21 which keep the edges 26 within the spaces 22 between the ledgers 21 and the outer vertical piers 27.

The pallet can be made of suitable lightweight materials due to I-bearn shaped truss construction with spacing blocks 4 to provide open spaces 3 running lengthwise therewith and spaces 5 crosswise therebetween to accommodate the forks 7 or 6 respectively according to the side from which the trussed pallet is lifted. Also a unique detachable collapsible crib is provided by my invention which can be quickly assembled on the trussed pallet for loads which may not conveniently stay in place on the pallet substructure alone. The trussed pallet supports the load and prevents vertical crushing and to offset damaging lateral stresses because of the unique construction and arrangement of the par-ts of the substructure of the trussed pallet although extremely lightweight materials are used which greatly reduces the cost of construction. Further the crib is easily assembled and may be shipped to point of use with the side and end sections of the crib lying fiat on top of the trussed substructure of the pallet to conserve space in hauling.

It is obvious that many changes in the details of the construction and arrangement of the parts may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A pallet for supporting a load of materials including an upper deck and a lower deck with trusses therebetween, open spaces between said decks for the reception of a fork of a lifting device, a retaining wall formed around the perimeter and on top of said upper deck, a detachable collapsible crib having side and end sections mounted within said retaining wall and held in position therein, said side and end sections having vertical piers with horizontal ribbands crosswise thereof, notches in the outer edges of the outer vertical piers of said side sections, said end sections having vertical ledgers attached to said cross ribbands thereof and spaced outwardly from the outer vertical piers of said end sections forming a space between said vertical ledgers and said outer vertical piers of each end section, said space receiving the outer edges of the outer vertical piers of said side sections, said horizontal ribbands being attached on the outside of said vertical piers of said end sections to lock in said notches in said side sections.

2. A pallet for supporting a load of materials includ-- lng an upper deck and a lower deck with trusses there-- between, open spaces between said decks for the reception of a fork of a lifting device, a retaining wall formed.

around the perimeter and on top of said upper deck, a. detachable collapsible crib having side and end sections.

mounted within said retaining wall and held in position therein, said side and end sections having vertical piers:

with horizontal ribbands crosswise thereof, V-shaped' notches in the outer edges of the outer vertical piers of said side sections, said end sections having vertical ledgers attached to said cross ribbands thereof and spaced outwardly from the outer vertical piers of said end sections forming a space between said vertical ledgers and said outer vertical piers of each end section, said space receiving the outer edges of the outer vertical piers of said side section, said horizontal ribbands being attached on the outside of said vertical piers of said end sections to lock in said notches in said side sections.

(References on following page) References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Still Apr. 15, 1919 Procissi et a1. Oct. 20, 1942 5 Acteson May 20, 1947 Cruickshank Feb. 24, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Apr. 5, 1917 

